Lawn mower



y l949- B. e. HARLEY 2,417,453

v LAWN MOWER Filed Dec. 4. 1945 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR:

BERTRON G. HARLEY, BY

ATTORNEY July 26, 1949. B. G. HARLEY 2,477,453 LAWN MOWER Filed Dec. 4, 1945 {Sheets-Sheet 2 8 A INVENTOR.

6 LBERTRUN G.HARLEY, BY

ATTORN EY B. G. HARLEY July 26, 1949.

LAWN MOWER 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 4, 1945 I Fla. /I.'.

INVENTOR.

i s mian" G.HARL YEY,

53 so s2- ATTORNEY Patented July 26, 1949 a Y l 2 ,477,452

tutti MOWER Berra emaley, Pat-rail, it. Y. kppiication December 4, 1945, Serial No. 632,649

"This inventionftelates to iawnmowre in. awneieaframe er carriage has mountd in it a henzoritai blade-carrying eutter $119,517 which I is didtnthroi h gearingfironil the wheels of the. liarrifiig wfinthe salfiie' is being moved.- I

Ina conventional. lawnmower the cutter shaft as fixed. toit a et of gra ss cuttih'g blades equidista'ritfy spaced: from the another along. a circle about the ham-each blade usually being some what sbiral relatii etolthe shaft. 'Ihe cage like stiiuctur' represented bytheshaft andthe blades carried by: it is terme the reer or fblade reell qr" tlieflawhi mower. The bI-ades' pft e reel. co' act with a relatively statibnery horizontal straight whereby there is prqdueaa shearing action upon the rass eaugneetweeh each of the rotary blades" andthe stafibna'ry.cotiitermiaae.

:More s1 ificallytfiis invention relates'to im nrcvementswhe y the operation of sharpening tn iaee is facilitated. t whenever the blades required had'to beeither disi'riounte'dintheircarrier shaft or eIse the lawn mower had tb be dismantled to the point Where the aftajsawhole together with the blades could be" separated from g the drive gear train or which ineffect- 1r farmed apart; p

To. detach the individual blades tofs'hjarpen tnemtarra m re-mstairtnem mayre' mt in nrisar rgniuem "of the blades" andcohsfeguent unsatisfarery ctltti'ng operatfon, While the discohe nection of the cutter shaft or relasl a whol'elfroin its gear train is t least a cumbersome operatidn. Hence tisuall'ythe ent re lawn mower is turned otter "to" some all 'faround repair shop tofdof the 1 nith theobjects ofjthisinventionjto' rnaer thetaskpfsharpeziine the awn mower blades relatively less time-consurh g", ie'ss'cumbEisdii'i and lss' expensive, even while resulting is uniformly high accuracy er: assembly and high cutting efliciency.

Another object is to simplify for its owner the business" of having thelawn mower sharpened, yet makin .availableto him-la lawn mower that is in efiecteontinuously in good-working order as' regal-ti s the condition r the: blades.

neqeo eie Wi is. inw omi esebi i as attain j e d tiee ma te-stirr n B wen of? .c tenhafttogethe with the .eq nteror;

steahm ae detachable without disturbance or dismantling ofthe' associated parts of" the 55 mower and especially without requiring any disa game: will turbancey of the. drive. -gear train that actuates h sha t. It is among the advantages resultingfrom this: r emen that t eq mume th t e wne of the lawn mower, may obtain i rom the factory-i orits agent a iireshly sharpened, that is to say a competently sharpened qr factqirysharpened re; placement cutter-reel whileturni-ng his dell. one for sharpening, somewhatcomparable to {the manner in which an automobile owner turns= in his run-down battery for recharging. while being supplied in the interim: with a freshly charged substitute battery, I I I i v H The owner of a; lawn naowermay. order fromthe factory a sharpened substitute cr tter; reel packed in a suitable special shipping. container which container will al sg serve the recipient" for returne ing the; old ci -tter to the factory or else the customer or lawn mower owner may be supplied such a: shippi I- g container in which he maysend in the old cutter unit when ordering the:

rotary cutter real as proposed bythis invention,

7 such a detachable unit can be exchanged as; a

whole. way the proper cutting or shear- .in'g relationship between the-co acting blades,

that is between the stationary blades and the a rotary b ades, is insured. inthe exchange ofthe unit, with no greater efiort reguired of the owner than to exchange the unit in the lawn mower by. coupling or uncoupling the detachableshaft portion, and using the same shipping container in which the new umt was'received for returning the old l initto the factory. I V

According to this invention a d'etachabIesubassembly comprises a detachable shaft portion carrying the cutter blades, and a pair of arms rotatable upon the ends of this shaft portion although rigidly interconnected by the counteror shear-blade. There arecoupling means for operatiyelyeonn'ecting each-end of the detach;

ables haft portion with the. surrounding machine the sub asser nbly upon the frame. Furthermore, there are provided rotation-preventing means upon the frame fo rjpositioning the arms of the sub asseinbly in .fixed relation to the frame once the sub-assembly has been positioned thereon.

The arrangement is that. this sub-assembly is insei't'd' from blow into the surrounding frame.

The invention possesses other objectsand feeltures of ad'vantage som of v which with the forebeset forth in the following dscrip; tion. In the' followingdescription and in the frame, and also constituting anchoring means for.

claims, parts will be identified by specific names or convenience, but they are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permit. In the accompanying drawings there has been illustrated the best embodiment of the invention known to me, but such embodiment is to be regarded as typical only of many possible embodiments, and the invention is not to be limited thereto.

The novel featuresconsidered characteristic of my invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanyin drawings in which Fig. 1 is a view of the lawn mower with the cutter shaft removable together with the counterblade. 7

Fig. 2 shows the cutter shaft and counter-blade unit per'se, that is detached from the frame of the lawn mower. I

Fig. 3 is an end view taken along line 3-3 of the unit shown in Fig. 2.

Figs. 4 to 11 represent enlarged sections, views and details of the Fig; 1 embodiment; Fig. 4 being an enlarged Vertical sectional View on line 44 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 beinga front elevational view indicated by the line 55 in Fig. 4 with parts removed; Fig. 6 being a sectional view representing an enlarged portion of Fig. 4 although showing the cuttershaft-counterblade unit displaced from the lawn mower frame and taken on line 66 of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 being a view of one end portion of the cuttershaft-counterblade unit as indicated by the line in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 being a further enlarger detailed sectional view of the left end mounting of the cuttershaft and of associated drive gearing therefor, taken on the line 8-8 in Fig. 4; Fig. 9 being a further detailed section taken along the line 9-9 of Fig. 8, showing a pawi and ratchet device; Fig. 10 being a perspective view of the mounting ofthe counter-blade, and Fig. 11 being a further detailed sectional view of the coupling means for the cutter-shaft taken along the line li-|| in Fig. 6. V 7

The lawn mower comprises a wheeled frame 4| having side plates 42 and 43 rigidlydnterconnected at their forward end by a cross rod 44 and at their rearward end by a connecting member 45. At its extreme'rearward end the frame carries a guide roller or idler 46 rotatable upon the connecting member 45, the rotary axis of which is parallel to that of a cutter-shaft 41 and of a counter-blade 48, both the cutter-shaft and the counter-blade being removable as a unitfrom the frame 4| (see Figs. 2, 3 and 6).

The cutter-shaft 41 carriescutter blades 49 mounted upon spider elements 50, 5|, 52 fixed upon the cutter-shaft 41 as by set screw 53 (see Fig; 8). In one end of the hollow cutter-shaft there is telescopically slidable a coupling member 54 having a flattened protrusion 55 at the outer end'and a finger piece 56 extending through an elongated or slat-like opening 51 in the wall of the hollow cutter shaft 41. The coupling member 54. is urged outwardly by a compressioncoil spring 58 disposed within the bottom cutter shaft 41. The coupling member 54 has rotation transmitting connection with a stub shaft 59 by way of the protrusion 55 engaging in a recess 69 in the stub shaft 59 driven by a pinion 6| through a one-way or pawl-and-ratchet connection 62 more clearly shown in Fig. 16. The stub-shaft 59 is journaled in the side plate 42 by way of a bushing 63 and has an outward axially extending reduced or pivot portion 64 which in turn is journaled at 65 in the pinion 6|. The one-way drive connecdriven by an internal gear 12 which is rotatably mounted upon the side plate 42 and is unitary or in fact identical with a wheel 13 supporting the frame 4|. The wheel 13 has a cylindrical hub portion 14 rotatable upon a hollow stub portion 15 extending laterally outwardly from the side plate 42 and shown to constitute a part thereof; The'wheel I3 is held in place by a bolt 16 having a washer Ilat its outer end and anut'l8 at its inner end.

A counter-blade 48 is unitary with the cuttershaft 41 in that the'blade' is mounted upon a blade holder bar Bleach end of which is supported by a bracket or mounting 8| which in turn is rotatably mounted upon the respective adjacent end of the cutter-shaft 59. The bracket 8| comprises an inner end portion 82 having a hole 83 whereby it is rotatably mounted upon the cutter shaft 59, an offset portion 84' extending at right angles from the'inner end portion 82 and towards the side plate 42, and an outer end portion 85 having a laterally extendingpivot 86 over which fits a terminal portion 8'! of the blade holder bar carrying the counter-blade 48. The outer end portion of the bracket 8| also has fixed thereto a block 88 into which are threaded a pair of set screws 89 and 99 to hold the blade holder 80 in an adjusted position relative to the cutter blades 49. The bracket 8| is positioned relative to the side plate 42 of the frame by a pair of rail or guide portions 9| and 92 between which the outer end portion 85 0f the bracket 8| 1 has a sliding fit.

' The construction of the other side plate 49 of V the frame. and all parts associated therewithis.

symmetrically identical to that just described in connection with the side plate 42. f

The procedure of removal of the cutter-shaft counter-blade unit is illustrated in. and substantially self-explanatory from Fig. 6. That is to' say, the finger pieces 28, 33 of: the coupling p'or tions 21 and 32 are pressed inwardly against'the pressure of their springs 30 and 35 when the unit may be removed from the frame in a rearward downward direction.

Accordingly, the, removal of the blade-carrying; unit is self-explanatory, particularly in view of the illustration in Figs. 6 and 8.

It should be understood that while this invention is herein shown in connection with a handriven lawn mower a prime mover or gasoline ting the drive power from the primemov-erto the or to the cutter shaft frame-supporting wheels direct.

I claim:

1. A lawn mower comprising a wheeled carriage frame having side plates and transversely extending tie members rigidly interconnecting them, a drive gear train mounted on the side of said carriage frame and driven from an associated carriage wheel, a horizontal rotary cutter shaft journalled in said frame and driven by said gear train, said shaft comprising an end portion rotatably mounted in said frame and constituting apart of said gear train and a detachable portion separable from said end portion and carrying grass-cutting blades rotating with the shaft, coupling means for detachably connecting said detachable shaft portion with said driven end portion and constituting a driving connection for said detachable shaft portion as well as an anchoring connection for said detachable shaft portion with said frame, a counter-blade extending parallel and spaced downwardly and rearwardly with respect to said shaft and having grass-cutting relationship with the blades, bracket means for removably mounting said counter-blade upon said frame in said relationship, said bracket means comprising an arm at each end of said blade and having fixed relationship therewith, the outer end of each arm being swingably mounted upon the corresponding end portion of said removable shaft portion and being removable therewith in a rearwardly and downwardly inclined direction with respect to said frame, and rotation-preventing means effective between said frame and said arms whereby sa d a m a e W am 9 a pr d m e sition relative to the frame and relative to said cutting blades.

2. A lawn mower according to claim 1, in which said rotation preventing means comprise a pair of parallel guide ledges provided upon the inner face of each side plate of the frame.

3. A lawn mower according to claim 1, with the addition of adjusting means for adjustably fixing the angular relationship between the plane of said counter-blade and said arms.

4. A lawn mower according to claim 1, with the addition of adjusting means for adjustably fixing the angular relationship between the plane of the counter-blade and said arms, which adjusting means comprise a blade-holding element coextensive with said counter-blade, a pivotal connection between each of said arms and the adjacent end of said blade-holding element, a pair of adjusting screws provided upon one of said arms and operable in opposition to each other while engaging the adjacent end of said bladeholding element in a manner to maintain said angular relationship.

BERTRON G. HARLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 999,122 Pennell July 25, 1911 1,583,124 Coiiland May 4, 1926 2,283,161 Booton May 19, 1942 

